BIRD WILLIAMS: You're listening to Bird Means Business Episode 60. 

Hi there! I hope you are having an incredible week. Can y'all believe we're already at the end of January? What? Yo, the first month of 2021 was wild, for me, but also so very rewarding. And I hope that wherever you find yourself in your business journey, whether you're in that planning stage with just an idea or in the launch phase where you have a go date out ahead of you and you're doing all the things to get this business off the ground. Or maybe you're in the growth stage where you've already launched your business, and you're really trying to systemize and scale and figure out how to make all this work. Wherever you are, here's my encouragement to you. Keep going. And you know what that looks like? It's just putting one foot in front of the other. It's being excellent, doing the very best you can with what's in your hand. And it's being consistent. And watch my friend, as you're taken from strength to strength. So just keep going. Okay? 

Now, I am so, so super excited to have my dear friends, Tim and Faby Broussard on the show today. I am so impressed by how they've grown Fab and Fit Foods, Houston's best meal prep delivery service if I do say so myself. And how they've grown it from being just meal prep delivery to having a storefront location in Pearland, Texas, which is one of the suburbs here in Houston. 

Now, I don't know if I've shared this on the pod before, but, I am not a foodie, I know, I know. It's weird. I'm just a strange person and I just don't typically get excited about food. But let me tell you something. Whenever I see Fab and Fit Foods in the fridge, I'm literally saying, "Yes", out loud, because I know I have healthy prepackaged food that I can easily heat up and just go on about my day with. So, it is the best and Terry and I order it on the regular. 

So, we're about to hear how Faby and Tim started Fab and Fit Foods, and why they decided to transition to having a storefront location, and also they're going to share some pretty incredible insights for any of you out there looking to build a food business. And even if you're an entrepreneur in a different industry, you're going to want to tune in as these lessons learned, are in many ways, universal. Look, one of my biggest tips for new brand builders is to listen and learn from entrepreneurs who have gone before you. So soak up all the wisdom, you can. Alright? So here we go. Let's dive in. 

All righty, Tim and Faby, I am so glad to have you on the show. Thank you for being on Bird Means Business podcast.

TIM BROUSSARD: Thank you for having us. 

FABY BROUSSARD: Yes, thank you so much for having us. We're excited.

TIM: We're honored. 

BIRD: Yes, I've already intro'd your business, the incredible Fab and Fit Foods. I told them all about how I am not even a foodie, but I get so excited when I see Fab and Fit Foods in the fridge because I know that I'm going to have something healthy and quick so I can get right back to work. And it is just such a delight. So I'm so glad that you built the business you have and we've been friends for years. But I don't think I've ever really heard the story of your entrepreneurial journey from the very beginning. So kind of tell us what that looked like and how you got started and how you got to where you are today. 

FABY: Well, it really took some time for me to actually like sit down and put it all together because when you're in the moment you just like go go go go. So just to really sit down and be like, "Okay, how did I actually, how did this all come about? How did we put this together?" I love cooking. That's always been a passion for me for a really long time. I love to cook. But at the same time, I love food. I'm a foodie, so I want my food to taste good.  But, throughout my life, I did struggle with a health condition, and not to go into too much detail but it is PCOS. And those who have PCOS know that it's really hard to lose weight. So the weight just kind of stays on. So I'm trying to like figure out how to take care of my health. At the same time, be a mom, be a wife, be a co-worker, be an employee. You know, I'm just trying to go about my life and find a way to just be happy, you know. So I started meal prepping. I started researching. I did take some nutrition courses in college. So I had that knowledge. I knew what I needed to be eating but it was very difficult. But once I started researching meal prepping and started implementing it into my home, and I was meal prepping for Tim. I was meal prepping for myself, and just for the family in general saw the convenience of it. I was like, "Man, this could benefit like many people" you know. And those around us, family, friends. So I'm doing what I love to do which is cooking, and then I'm also, you know. The health benefit I'm getting and seeing the health benefits from this. Let's do this. I think Tim and I both have always had an entrepreneurial mindset. So we were always trying to like figure out what we could do. 

TIM: We had some very kooky ideas.

FABY: Yes. 

TIM: A couple of things that we actually put into play, put into effect, had meetings with people that, you know, about some of our ideas. Definitely won't go into detail about some of those ideas. But as Fabi's saying, I always knew that we were going to open up some kind of business, do some kind of side hustle small business.

FABY: But we always wanted to do it with something that we were passionate about because we knew that doing something that we were passionate about, we were going to be able to give it 100%, no matter what. And then a coworker of mine at the time. you know, I wasn't in a happy place just where I was at. The environment and working and stuff, so once I just kind of implemented this and just started doing it, you know, I was like, let's just go ahead and start this and see how it goes. I had my Monday through Friday job. And then we were doing this kind of like on the side. But I was enjoying, you know, this one day, more than the entire week. So I was just like, I want to do this all the time. This is what I want to do. I mean yeah that's kind of how it got started and Tim was a little scared when I decided that I wanted to quit my job and then do this, 100%. It was just kind of like the uncertainty. But I knew deep down inside because I was doing something that I loved. I knew it was gonna work like I just felt it inside that I knew I was going to give it my all and when I start something, I like to finish it, and I don't like to go, you know, just half do it. I like to go full force and like finish it. 

TIM: The timing of it was definitely a little scary just to have it go. I mean, we'd only been doing it for maybe a few months, at that point. 

FABY: Like three months. 

TIM: And the possibility to take the leap of faith, which obviously all business owners have to do at some point. Just say, "Hey, you know what? We'll see where this goes." You know if we just jump in feet first and take the leap of faith and say "I'm gonna dedicate 100% of my time to alleviate yourself from the regular nine to five.

FABY: Not only the nine to five but like we had really good health benefits. We had really good 401Ks, you know the whole retirement plan. 

TIM: Yeah. 

FABY: We had it all set. Like many people that I would talk to about this idea, they would be like you're crazy. Why are you leaving your this secure job that you have to go into something that you have no clue if it's going to work out, or not? And I just felt like, I don't know, it's something you feel in your heart, I think, and that's mainly what. I couldn't focus at work anymore because all I thought about was Fab and Fit. I started thinking about the color scheme that I wanted, what logo I wanted. Even the name wasn't 100%. Like that was getting my mind, like all week. I think I probably got caught at work, a few times like trying to work on my own thing, but still trying to focus on my job. But I couldn't. And that's when I was like I cannot keep doing this because I'm not. Like I said before, like to give everything 100%, I wasn't giving my job, 100% anymore. Yeah, so I felt like it was time to. So without telling Tim. I mentioned it to him. You know, I wanted to resign and, but without telling him I actually submitted my resignation form. But I did give my boss some time and I told her that it wasn't right away if she needed time to like train somebody that I would still be there until my job was 100% complete, you know. I wasn't getting to just like leave right away. 

BIRD: Yeah.

FABY: Because I did want to leave on good terms and I was really appreciative of the time that I was there but now it was time for me to follow my passion and my dreams.

BIRD: Yeah, I love it. I love what you're saying around it being a solution to a problem, you having this health condition where you wanted to be able to lose weight and you had to think more about the healthiness around the food that you're eating and on and on. And I talk a lot on the podcast about how a viable business is going to be one that solves a problem and solves it in a unique way. So I love that you brought that out. And I also love that you talked about how like you really weren't super fulfilled in the job that you were in, you know. That's where I found myself too and my previous corporate job just. It was an exciting job like you're saying. I had all the benefits. It was a great setup, but at the end of the day just wasn't really moved by it. And so, I know a lot of those listening are in the same place trying to figure out like, when do I take the leap and how to do that and I just love that you brought that up. 

So you started doing it for yourself, then kind of family and friends and there was three months of you kind of having this side hustle before you said okay I'm gonna go into it full force. How long ago was that and then kind of what happened after that?

TIM: That was actually 2017. It was July, we can't forget it because it was right before Harvey.

FABY: Yeah, but by May I had already gone to the courthouse, done the DBA. Like I had already reached out. So this was already kind of in the works like around May but officially the resignation letter and like everything. We started the first week was like July, 29, I think. It was like the first official week of, we had a soft launch at a local gym.

TIM: Yeah, and it was good to have the background that we had been dealing with presentations and obviously working for, I don't know if we want to say exactly where we worked. We were both working in the health industry which is, you know we could say so. And just that week. It was like a week or two right before Harvey. 

FABY: Yeah, so we were trying to handle a new business in the middle of what was probably the biggest disaster in the city. At the time we were a delivery service so it's kind of like streets were flooded. We had just begun our business so we didn't want to lose customers. Consistency was always like a big thing.

TIM: And it was also, we saw how we could be beneficial because we were able to help out a lot of people in need. At that point, it was like, hey, you know what? We just launched a business that provides meals that obviously could benefit a lot of people that are incapacitated, at the time who literally needed it.

FABY: Yeah, we did see where a lot of families were in need because they couldn't leave their homes because they would go to church to seek refuge. So we actually partnered up at the time with a church that's actually close to us, where we went and delivered food, and they fed those that were there. It was a time where we were like okay this is gonna benefit people in need.

TIM: There's a need for it.

FABY: Not only is there a health aspect, but it's like the convenience of the delivery, the providing, of the meals of food. Sometimes it's not that easy to go out and grab something.

TIM: There was definitely a problem, that needed to be fixed with it and we didn't even think about it, you know at the time. Obviously, that was a much bigger problem that we were seeing, or, you know, have seen since the global pandemic started.

BIRD: I love that you brought that up. Two things: One is Harvey, a natural disaster, the biggest in Houston, Texas, helped you prove your business model. It helped you say, "Yep, actually people do need this. Yep, actually, we can be a resource. So there was that and then I love that you brought up the pandemic, which is what we're living in now. And I get this question a lot now which is, how do I make my business bulletproof or pandemic proof? And of course, there are some answers around it. Of course, you can have a solid business plan. You can think through your financials and your numbers and kind of know where you're going in that lane so that you can be adaptable and pivot and things like that. Understand how your ideal client and what they really need and how you can adapt in those times. But at the end of the day, you know crap happens is what I'll say. Whether it's a pandemic or whether it's hurricane Harvey, or whether it's a personal problem that you face that could affect your business or whatever it is. That's inevitable. So, the ability to adapt and to be okay with having to change course or think about something different and go about things differently in your business is really the skill you want to develop as an entrepreneur because you can't really avoid it. You can't make your business pandemic proof or protect yourself completely against crap happening. It's going to happen. It's more so, am I ready to adapt? Am I open? Do I have that entrepreneurial mindset? Am I aware enough at a macro level of where my business is to be able to pivot and so on and so forth? I love that you brought that up. 

FABY: It really showed us our strengths as individuals. So like, I'm the type that, I don't like changes too much. 

TIM: That's a very nice way of saying that.

FABY: I have a plan, and I like that plan to go as according in my mind how it's gonna play out. I have it all perfectly in my mind.

TIM: Memes and quotes and stuff go around. But people said when the pandemic started. If you're still operating in a mindset of pre-COVID, you're not going about your business correctly. You have to adapt.

FABY: And Tim was really good at the flexibility part of the whole situation. Like you said, finding ways to adapt your current business. You hope that it would fit the situation that is going but if it doesn't, and yeah, you have to be flexible to kind of tweak certain things. 

TIM: I love curveballs. I think that's a trait of, like, an extrovert. Because things are just always different. You know, I don't like just boring ole routine. Like, "Oh, I know what tomorrow is gonna bring, so let's jump in". Nope, throw me a curveball, man. Give me the opportunity to knock it out of the park.

FABY: He's definitely shown me 

TIM: Not to say that I was excited about the pandemic. 

FABY: No, no, but he's shown me how to kind of get out of my comfort zone and it's still difficult for me. So I think we balance each other out when it comes to that. And it's been a big help right now during the pandemic. 

BIRD: That's awesome. I love that teamwork. And you know what I found with Terry and I, where I'm weak he's strong and vice versa, right? So that's the whole point of a partnership. So I love that. So what were some of the main considerations around moving from just the delivery service like you were initially, to having your physical location with you just launched? Talk about that. Are there any tips of how you would navigate this transitional process for entrepreneurs out there looking to do the same?

TIM: Yeah, so, man with us. Our whole business model is set up on ease and convenience of our customers. So, you know, having a business model that we had was basically renting out private commercial kitchens, catering which, you know, worked. But when it came down to it, everybody has their entrepreneur mindset. So the people that we were renting from, they wanted to make their money, which isn't beneficial for us because we were spending a lot of money renting from them, whereas we saw if we were in our own space, we would actually be saving money and able to be open and have our own space for ourselves, you know. So financially it made sense. And on the customer service side, it made a lot of sense as well. Whereas, we actually have a physical location for people to come, engage with us for one, because, you know, our original business model was, hey, order offline. Our products are food from a website that you have no idea who's cooking the food. You have no idea who the proprietors are. So now that we have our physical location, you can come in. You can kick it with me. You know I love chopping it up with our customers with whatever questions they may have. They can tell me their allergies, their concerns, their dietary needs, you know, whatever goals they're going for. If we establish a relationship, that way, you know. As opposed to just having your e-commerce site, which I know for a lot of people just strictly being an e-commerce is beneficial for them. But those are definitely the added benefits of having the physical location man. I love engaging with our customers and it works, and it's more convenient as well for them to, you know, pick up their items. 

FABY: Yeah, I'll add to that because I also feel that by renting from a commercial kitchen, obviously, they have their owners, the managers of these locations. You're on their time, almost. So we had a set time that we could rent these locations, and sometimes like today, we finished pretty early but there's times that we go to midnight, one o'clock in the morning. And it's our business so we want to give quality. We want to go until we're 100% done. We can't just always stop the clock and we have to leave.

TIM: It stifles creativity as well. I mean, my wife is, I don't think I've said it on this podcast yet, so shame on me. But my wife is a genius, Ashley. You're talking to a genius. Right now you're in the presence of a genius. 

BIRD: Yes, yes!

TIM: Her ability to make these meals and make this food tasty, as well as, giving you the added benefit of it being healthy, is something that is downright incredible. As she mentioned earlier, she's a foodie, so I always tell people, it's my comparison to when gospel artists listen to secular music. They know what it sounds like. They know that it sounds good. And then, you know, like Kirk Franklin, he throws a little twang in there. You know, they're like, "Oh, that's that Master P."

FABY: That's how I cook my food, right?

TIM: Yeah. She incorporates things from the taste of food that you wouldn't associate with being healthy, but she's able to make it healthy.

FABY: Yeah, and I would feel rushed in those situations when we were renting from the commercial kitchen. I felt like I had to hurry up and try and stay on schedule. Now it's like, it's my time. It's okay if I go a little bit over. It's okay if I back up on a certain meal. It's okay if I spend a little bit more time and make a meal that's a little bit more involved. Before I used to have to schedule my menu around another person's time. 

TIM: And that creates routine. 

FABY: Yeah, absolutely. That was our main reason why we saw in our situation that opening up our own storefront was going to be, you know the best route for us. 

BIRD: That's huge. I love that. Both of the things that you said. And to go back to what Tim said around just the ability to kind of have better marketing, when you have that physical location. I actually just talked about it in Episode 58. It's  called, "Is Your Marketing Strategy Just Social Media?" And I talked about how your marketing strategy is unique to your business. And how even in my gym business versus Bird Williams, which is my business strategy firm, which is just online. Two completely different marketing strategies and how much easier it was for me at least when we had a physical location because people could come in. They can see the experience of what it is that they're going to be paying for. They can meet our team. They could see all the things, whereas online, you're trying to create that place, or that space, just through your website, just through your social media. And it's a lot more challenging. And there's so much more noise in the market. It feels like that you're hoping to really try to stand out. So I love that you brought that up too. I mean we're just like this is all vibing with a lot of things I've shared recently.

FABY: And it's important I think to have both options in the world that we're moving towards right now. So a lot of the millennials, a lot of the Gen Z. You know the younger generation is more about the internet and they want convenience and they just go online and want to order things and they're very tech-savvy like that. So to some people, ordering online is just so much better for them. And other people we have, some millennials still, and older generations want that face-to-face interaction.

TIM: That's me. Even though I'm a millennial. But I have an old-school mentality. I don't want to order food, especially when I can't meet the people who's cooking and preparing it. I guess to each his own.

FABY: I do think it's important for a business to try and navigate both the technological world and try in some sort of way to have a physical presence as well. Somewhere where people can contact somebody. It's really, really hard when I've tried to contact businesses, and I can't get ahold of anybody, like anybody. They just have a website, and I'm like no I want to speak to somebody, like real, not an automated system, not just an online chat. I actually want to talk to somebody. So having both has been very beneficial as far as we've seen.

BIRD: That's awesome. Yeah, I love it. So I know that there are so many people out there who want to get into the food space, whether they want to do meal prep delivery or have a restaurant or whatever that might be. What do you think made Fab and Fit Foods stand out from all the rest, right? Because there's so many different businesses in the food space. What did you do to really stand out?

FABY: Like I mentioned before my passion, just in general, just initially for starting this is cooking. Just that passion that I would say I have a pretty good palate for tastes and textures. But at the same time, the achievement of being able to heal myself, kind of, you know. Like I haven't 100% healed from or you don't ever kind of get away from the whole PCOS. But just, I saw it worked for me. And I saw that I wasn't getting tired of my food, it wasn't bland. Being able to add flavor. I was being able to cook the food that I enjoyed and still see the benefits from it. And I don't know if this sounds like a little cliche or but I just when I'm cooking I'm putting my all into it. And that means, like love and, you know, just everything. I'm really in a different space like I don't even know how to explain it, but I'm putting my all into this.

TIM: It could come off as cliche, you know, because people say it all the time like if you do something that you love for a living, then you never really work a day in your life. So, with her obviously, man cooking is my wife's passion. You know, that's what she loves to do. I've told her this before, you know, when I watch her cook and when I watch her in a creative mode, coming up with the food, is like watching the fish swim. You know it's like watching somebody in their natural element, just doing it. So for someone that's trying to get into the space of seeing a lucrative business, I would never just tell them, oh yeah, go for it because there's a lot of money to be made. And it's always about doing something that you're good at, something that you're passionate about, something that you're getting into it from, you know, a positive space in your mind to say hey you know what I like to do this. I want to go into it because this is what I enjoy. Not just because I can make some money.

FABY: Along with that, like being my passion is just the flavor. I feel like any of my meals that I create have to have some sort of flavor, if that's by adding these herbs, spices, whatever I need to do to make this dish kind of like make you remember it. That's what I'm gonna do. And I think that's what kind of sets us apart because so many meal prep businesses. There are even just here in Houston and we all are very different. And the way that we've decided to kind of set ourselves apart is by flavor. And I'm not saying like we're the only flavorful meal prep. But in our model, that's how we've wanted to set ourselves apart and to be healthy and have a flavor. Exactly.

BIRD: I love that. That's a huge differentiating factor, so it's awesome. Now, what would y'all say it's like, what is it like being in business with your spouse, and this is a good question and I mean I've shared my perspective on the podcast a lot. I've had Terry on the show. But I'd love to give the listeners a different point of view from another marriedpreneur because we do have a lot of marriedpreneurs that listen to the show.

TIM: Did you make that up? 

BIRD: I did not. We have friends who like brand themselves as like the marriedpreneur people on Instagram and I love that. So, what is it like being in business with your spouse, how have you made boundaries around things, and how does all that look?

TIM: Everything has its challenges. Marriage has its challenges, in general, you know what I'm saying?. It's always going to be tough. It's always going to be tough navigating that space, you know when you work together, whether you're working for yourselves or whether you just are employed by someone and work with your spouse. So I'm not going to sit up here and give some bs cliche answer like, "Oh, it was lovely." No, you definitely have those tough times, but I'll actually piggyback off something that you actually posted, Ash, and I'm gonna butcher it. I don't have a photographic memory. But, basically, it was something along the lines of you saying that you choose your hard. You know what I'm saying? And I love that and I was just reading and I was just I wanted to shout, I wanted to preach. I was like, Yes, you know. So, obviously, we could choose things to be tougher but I choose the hard of, yeah, by navigating this space to where we have our business, we're able to approach, new ideas, new creative ideas have those debates amongst each other, versus being in a space to where man we're killing ourselves and working hard for somebody else, and making them rich. But, hey we're doing it for ourselves. We're building our brand and at the end of the day, it has our names on it, and it's gonna benefit us and our children and our families. So, that's the hard that I choose. Yes, to answer the question, I mean, with that being the case, I love it. 

FABY: Yeah, I agree. He just touched on the fact that gets there. We have had our ups and downs throughout the business side of it. But I view it as a blessing because it's, he wants what's best for me and I want what's best for him. And as long as we have that same mindset, I can trust him. He trusts me. It's been a blessing. It's been a blessing and all we want is a success for each other. You know I'm not like working with somebody who I don't know if they have any other intentions. Are they going to sabotage me? It's been really really really good. I never, ever imagined this would be the case, like working with my spouse. But it's turned out to be better than I even could have probably imagined.

TIM: And let us say, obviously you're married. You guys do the same thing and obviously to give you guys a shout-out. Man, I know you're gonna be upset with me because I beat a dead horse with this and saying this man. But, you and Terry have inspired us so freaking much. You wouldn't even imagine this. Your listeners may not know, but, you know, Terry's one of my childhood friends. And to see someone work as hard as he has and fall in love with you and you guys team up and do what you guys have done. To see that, you see that from the close friend, that obviously. I mean it should inspire you and TJ (Terry) is a master at inspiration, obviously. So, as she said we have our best interests at heart. We know what our strengths and weaknesses are and we do a very good job of highlighting those. You know, I let her navigate her space to where she's great. She lets me do my thing in my field where I'm great, you know. We don't step on each other's toes. We build each other up when we can. It's a partnership.

FABY: And I mean to be very honest, it wasn't like that from the get-go. Obviously, we learned. We do want to, you know, just be open about just the beginning stages of it. Again, I kind of like things to go as planned and how they are in my brain and you know just a micromanager kind of.

TIM: Things that no matter how much you want to do things, just not gonna go as planned, ever.

FABY: Yeah. I feel like I do the same for you in other aspects so 

TIM: Absolutely.

FABY: It's just the balance of it all. 

TIM: Because there does have to be a sense of responsibility, you know, that sense of reason, where I would be the one to say hey you know what let's go ahead and launch a location on the moon. Oh wait a minute, let's take some baby steps.

FABY: But he has been my push, because I have gotten out of my comfort zone, due to him and, and just his drive too, you know. And I've learned to acknowledge his strengths, give him his place. And then also I know what I'm good at, at this point, and he allows me to do the same. So that's worked out really really good.

TIM: Time and patience. 

FABY: It's been three, we're going on for years, I think?

TIM: Yeah, yeah.

BIRD: Wow. That's incredible. I would echo the same so much of what you said, being in your own lanes and being able to focus there. It taking time and you have to kind of get into this rhythm of working with your spouse and creating boundaries for the personal time and all that. I mean, give yourself grace, you know, and at the end of the day, like you said you're a team. I had to remind myself a lot. Like, if Terry wins, I win. If Terry loses, I lose, and vice versa, and remembering that we're on the same team. You know, go in the same direction, it definitely helps a lot.

TIM: I always like the boat analogy. Look we're in the same boat. If we sleep, we both sleep.

BIRD: Exactly. So, what would you say would be the number one piece of advice that you would give someone who's starting a business in general? Whether it's in the restaurant or food space or just in general? Like if you could go back to I think you said 2017 when y'all officially kind of made that transition to have this realization you're going to go all-in with. What do you wish you would have known?

FABY: I guess just never think that you know everything, 100%. And be open to seeking help, seeking advice, seeking the knowledge from others who are a little bit more experienced than you. They don't necessarily have to be in the same, you know, field that you're trying. Just, if you have an entrepreneur friend, go to them. Be okay. You know sometimes our pride or our ego or whatever it is, we're just kind of like shy to ask or just seek out help because I think there's more people out there trying to inspire others and help others. And they're willing to give you know information but sometimes we're just like, I want to do this on my own, and we kind of get ourselves into stuff that you know we could have probably have avoided, but also you learn a lot from doing that, as well.

TIM: I would just echo that by saying you know, definitely just humble yourself, you know. As I say, thankfully we had amazing friends that had navigated through entrepreneurial space, you know before but even with that. There were times, Ashley knows, I called her and said, this is gonna be a really stupid question. Ashley was so sweet and she's like, no it's not stupid.  But when I asked, I'm sure she was going like, "Aw man."

BIRD: No it was never stupid. Never a stupid question.

FABY: Well yeah, that's the thing too. When you feel like, oh man is this gonna sound dumb? Like I don't know what I'm doing? Like, why should I even be out on the entrepreneur venture if I don't know what I'm really doing? But, how do we all learn anything, you know, without even trying? How do we learn math, how do we learn how to read, if we're not actually going to perform? Go out there and just do it. That's the main advice is just, if you have a passion for something and if you really want to get somewhere. Just do it. And ask for help along the way.

BIRD: Yeah. That's huge. I mean, especially the piece on, not knowing what you're doing. I think a lot of people don't understand that none of us know what we're doing, right? None of us know what we're doing. We're all just trying to do the best we can with what we have. Even someone with an MBA going to launch a juice business. They've never launched a juice business. They can have all the theory and formulas and book knowledge. But until you actually get hit with a hurricane Harvey or a pandemic or a launch surprise. You're learning in the moment. None of us know what we're doing. We're just taking it one step at a time. And as your business levels up, like now okay you were the food delivery service. Now you have this physical location. There's going to be a whole other level of things you don't know what to do. So you're gonna learn again. And then once you level up to multiple locations. Okay, now you're gonna have to learn how to run multiple locations, you've never done that. So that's what I mean by being okay with being uncomfortable. Getting used to that. Being okay with having to adapt. Being okay with having to stretch yourself and learn. That key, that skill is what's going to take you far as an entrepreneur, because you're never going to feel comfortable. If you feel comfortable, that means that it's time for you to level up your business and go to the next level.

TIM: We talked about it when we saw that you invited us to be on the podcast, you know, we kind of looked at each other and kind of laughed, like, why us? You know, like we. Like us? Of all people? She could get real adults, you know, that know what they're doing, you know. 

FABY: We still feel like we don't know what we're doing. You know,

TIM: Exactly, when you look back on it, when we kind of look back and reflect because you know obviously it's tough to do that. There's a sense of like modesty I guess it's the better word, never want to look at yourself and feel like, oh you know I'm successful you know I'm this and that, you know, blah blah blah. But at the end of the day, man. We're just people that said, Hey, you know what we're gonna do it. And we just have the attitude to where we're not gonna fail, like no matter what and we're gonna take the leap of faith and we're gonna continue to take those leaps of faith because man, this is what we're doing. This is how we're gonna make it. This is our livelihood.

FABY: I don't think we've ever reached a point where we're like, "Oh yeah, we have it all down, like we are 100%. We have everything under control". Like even to this day. It was just recent I want to say like two weeks ago, I was by myself. It was one of those late Sundays because I also do cook on Sundays. And I had that time I was closing down the kitchen and everything and I had the time to really just sit back and look at everything around, look at the storefront, actually look at the kitchen, just how far we have come. Because I hadn't had time to do that. And it's like, almost had this, it was like an out-of-body experience or something. I was like looking back at myself and just thinking, wow, this is what you guys have created you and Tim you know. Yes, we had help along the way. 

TIM: You're starting from a negative and now we're here. 

FABY: It's amazing, and I had to give myself that time to actually think about it because we had come this far without even realizing, everything that we have accomplished. And another piece of advice that I would give is if you need help if you need guidance, seek it. As soon as you feel like you need that help, don't kind of wait till you know you've gotten yourself in some sort of issues or where you've lost your passion or your motivation to go. Don't ever like allow something that, oh I can't find how to do this or I can't, I don't know how to navigate this, I'm just not going to do it no more. Just always keep that motivation. Seek the help. There's always somebody who's going to help you. Yeah, that's mainly Don't lose your motivation over, not knowing something.

BIRD: That's great. I love how you said, going into it and like getting around other entrepreneurs. That's something I encourage so much. We don't have to be alone in this. Entrepreneurship can be very lonely, especially if you're a solopreneur. So just like surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs, listening to other entrepreneurial stories which is why I have guests on the show all the time. Because even like that podcast, I don't know if you've heard of it. It's called, "How I Built This" with Guy Raz, and he has these huge corporations like Chipotle on to talk about their startup story. And it's just so encouraging and powerful to listen, to really pull trends from, like wow, no one knew what they were doing. Wow. Everyone had to get help. And you start to like hear and it starts to kind of normalize the craziness that is entrepreneurship. Just hearing stories like that will help you to kind of get into that mind frame and like you say, give you the courage to just keep going for it. So, that is incredible. I'm so glad to have had y'all on the show. This has been so much fun. We could talk all night long. But this has been so great and I know that so many brand builders out there are listening and nodding their head and getting the encouragement and push they need to keep going. So thank you for everything you shared. 

I want to make sure that people can connect with y'all. So what's the best way for people to connect with you online? Or talk a little bit about any offers you might have, or however you like to connect with the audience.

TIM: If they have Instagram, we're @fabnfitfoods. We do a ton of engagement on Instagram. We showcase what we're going to have available for our preorders coming up for the week, we tell what we have in store, what the signature meals are. Just everything. There's a ton of engagement. Instagram, specifically. Facebook, as well. We try to keep up with that. Not as much as Instagram, but there's definitely engagement on Facebook and that's Fab and Fit Foods, as well. We do have a page set up as well as a personal account with a little bit more fun engagement. And then just our website fabnfitfoods.com. That's fab F-A-B, the letter N fit foods.com. You can go online. We have a few videos on there where we give little tips and tricks about how to curb your appetite in between meals, healthy eating because we also want to engage. We want to make sure that we're giving back in that way to help you along your journey whatever your goals may be, not just weight loss. Maybe you're trying to maintain or gain weight, you know, whatever the case may be. 

BIRD: That's great. I'll make sure I link those in the episode show notes, your Instagram, Facebook, and your website, so people can just scroll right down and click that to connect with you. And I think you wanted to share about the offer as well.

TIM: Yeah, so we do a special every new year. We know that a lot of people want to kind of jump on and be dedicated to healthy eating, clean eating, just really being healthier at the beginning of the year. So we offer our customers and, you know, new Fab and Fit family members that want to join us, you know if they want an opportunity to help in their dedication by getting a whole week worth of free meals by buying three weeks worth of meals ahead of time, and you get that fourth week for free. So that is something that we do that people can still join in on. They can reach out to us at any time and sign on for three weeks, get the last week free. And I'm sure you have mentioned it, but you know anybody that's listening to this podcast can also receive a special discount code as well.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, that's exciting. Again, thank you so much for being on the show. I am so inspired by your growth. So glad to be able to call you friends and excited to see what the future holds for Fab and Fit.

FABY: We want to thank you for having us.

TIM: Absolutely.

FABY: And what you're doing is amazing. The motivation that your podcasts give. I have four other sisters, and I'm the oldest, obviously. But they all follow your page, and they've listened to your podcast before, too, especially my other sister because they all kind of have little entrepreneur projects that they want to work on. But just to let you know that the quote that you used earlier, "Choose your hard". Yeah, two or three of my other sisters use that, and, "It's like Ashley said. Choose your hard." 

BIRD: Aw, that's awesome!

TIM: You're inspiring the whole family, Ashley.

FABY: Yeah, you're inspiring the whole family, but it helps in so many other aspects. So I just wanted to let you know that yeah you're inspiring like a little next generation of entrepreneurs as well because their ages range from like 17 to what is it 25.

BIRD:  That is incredible. Thank you for sharing that with me it means so much especially like you said to be able to also capture the minds and passions of the next generation. That's huge. So thank you for sharing that with me. I didn't know that. That's fun.

FABY: They'll be happy that I mentioned that, cause they're always like, "Did you see that Ashley posted?" So, yeah, she's all into it.

BIRD: That's awesome. Yeah, well, very cool. Thank you. All right. Well, loved having y'all on the show and I'll see y'all soon. 

Yo, what an inspiring couple. To go from cooking meals, to helping Faby heal her body. To then making meals for family and friends. To quitting her job, and going full time and then to now have a storefront location where Tim and Faby can connect even better with customers. What a journey. And it's just so exciting to hear their story and hear how it's resonated with so much of what I've shared here on the podcast. I hope that you've pulled some really incredible insights from the show and feel super motivated in your business journey as well. 

Now be sure you connect with Fab and Fit Foods on Instagram and Facebook. I linked both of these, as well as their website, in the show notes. And if you're ever in the Pearland area, make sure you stop by and check them out. Wherever you are in the Houston area you can use the code Bird, B-I-R-D, for 20% off your order through the month of February. 

Now, as always, thank you so much for tuning into Bird Means Business podcast. Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts so you don't miss a single episode. And you can also follow the pod on Spotify. Make sure you tell every entrepreneur you know about this episode, so they can learn from veteran entrepreneurs too. All right. Talk to you next week.